MP4 vs H.264, difference between MP4 and H.264 format

Compare MP4 with H.264 formats

File Extension	MP4	H.264
File Type	MPEG-4 Video File	H.264 Encoded Video File
Description	MP4 is currently the most popular video format, commonly used for sharing video files on the Internet and can be played on most devices. The MPEG-4 video is compressed with MPEG-4 video encoding. Audio is compressed using AAC compression.	Video file encoded with H.264 compression, which is a popular format for high definition video; often used as the video format for AVCHD camcorders, HDTV, Blu-ray, and HD DVD; generally refers to a video file that is actually an .MP4 file.
Developed by	Moving Picture Experts Group	N/A
Difference	MP4 is a file container format, while H.264 is actually a video compression codec that requires a video container to host the encoded video. Most of the time, H.264 refers to MP4 file encoded with H.264 codec, and a file with the ".h264" extension is generally a misnamed .MP4 file (or another supporting container file format such as .AVI or .MKV).